Harry Brown   Starring: Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer and Ben Drew Lions Gate Home Entertainment RRP: £19.99 LGD94206 Certificate: 18 Available 22 March 2010

Modest law-abiding citizen, Harry Brown is forced to dispense his own brand of justice as he bids to clean up the run-down estate he calls home. When his friend is brutally murdered by a group of disaffected youths, ex-serviceman Harry Brown takes the law into his hands, vowing to hunt each of the culprits down. This is the story of one man’s journey through a chaotic world where drugs are the currency and guns run the streets...

Harry Brown is an impressive gritty movie which sees Michael Caine star as Harry Brown, a pensioner living in a block of flats on a grim council estate. After his wife dies, Harry's only companion is his old friend who he plays chess with in the local pub. Constantly disrespected by the local youths, Harry's friend takes matters into his own hands and winds up dead at the hands of some of the local teenagers. This sends Harry on a downward path which eventually sees him attempting to rid his estate of the youths that run it through fear.

The movie holds a mirror up to our own culture and at the time of the movie's release a lot of British critics attacked the film for being very unrealistic. Well, firstly it's a film so it's not meant to reflect real life exactly is it? And secondly, I woke up this morning to hear a radio report about two pensioners who were killed when youths set fire to a mobility scooter outside their home. The fire spread to the house killing them both. A quick trawl through the various online news sites soon reveals that this is not as uncommon occurrence as you'd probably like to believe. There are areas of our society where people live in fear and gangs of youths run amok.

There was the odd bit of questionable acting and dialogue. This is most notable when Harry is talking to his friend, in the pub, about his time in the services. But then, the director does reveal, on the audio commentary, that he spent ages editing this scene to get the balance just right. Maybe he was a little too close to it.

Extras include an audio commentary with Michael Caine, director Daniel Barber and producer Kris Thykier; Extended and Deleted Scenes (16 min, 45 sec. There's an interesting scene included in which Harry Brown explains how his daughter died when she was a little girl as well as giving a background to his wife's illness); Interviews (43 min, 02 sec collection of interviews with the main cast and the director); and Chase & Status Music Video (3 min 32 sec).

The audio commentary is well worth a listen - Caine is genuinely funny and seems like a really down to earth guy. Highlights include Caine pointing out that he grew up very near where this movie was filmed; his stories about his road trips with Roger Moore; revealing that the gun thrown into the river was actually made from sugar; Caine's story about Alfred Hitchcock; Caine revealing that he watched the council tear down the house in which Charlie Chaplin was born in; and the director pointing out something I'd totally missed about the very final shot of the movie - the lack of cars on the flyover - which was achieved in post production.

This movie is uncomfortable to watch in places and the young actors really do turn in spectacular performances - especially Ben Drew. Drew's acting is chilling and you instantly dislike his character. And Caine illustrates perfectly why he's still one of the best actors working in the business.

9

Darren Rea